The organization of innovation and knowledge creation is concerned with the question, which combinations of conditions equip organizations with the ability to produce innovations and create knowledge and how and why do they do so? That is, what causal mechanisms explain innovation in organizations? Writing about the organization of innovation and knowledge creation, I distinguish between the interpretative and the analytical phases of innovation. The latter is far more organized, formalized and goal-directed than the former. The former is far more inclusive and ambiguous than the latter.

This has consequences for the kind of organizational characteristics that enable these different kinds innovation and knowledge creation. Particularly the interpretative phase requires a combination of some top-down and much more bottom-up organization. Top-down organization is necessary for focus, bottom-up organization is necessary for creativity and problem solving. My preferred context for researching the organization of innovation and knowledge creation is project teams, which are an example of temporary organizations. My main focus is to study this field from a complexity, QCA, case-based perspective and to break with the variable-based approach that dominates this literature.